Fibre Excellence adjusts its timetable. The merchant pulp producer, based in Tarascon (Bouches-du-Rhône) and Saint-Gaudens (Haute-Garonne), has placed the return to equilibrium of its existing sites at the top of its priorities.
Contacted by our editorial team, the paper group confirms that it remains committed to the project to take over the Chapelle Darblay site in Grand-Couronne, Seine-Maritime, closed in 2019 by the Finnish group UPM. The conversion of the newsprint mill to the production of corrugated base paper is part of the company's "long-term industrial vision .
But in the short term, resources are mobilized elsewhere.
Fibre Excellence reports that its "absolute priority" is to ensure the return to "economic equilibrium from its current paper-making sites at Tarascon and Saint-Gaudens. The context calls for "rigorous and responsible management resources.
Two parameters have been identified as decisive. The first concerns the increase in the feed-in tariff for electricity generated from biomass and sold to EDF. On this point, the Minister for Industry has said that he is unable to modify the conditions for buying back electricity from sites, as this issue cannot be dealt with by EDF "only as part of the Finance Bill for 2027", according to his statement to Le Figaro.
The second is the rising cost of wood supplies.
As far as Grand-Couronne is concerned, Fibre Excellence assures its willingness to continue the search for financial partners once the "economic determinants (...) stabilized" .
In addition to the installation of a biomass boiler and a wastewater treatment plant, the restart of the plant includes the rehabilitation of the railroad line and river access to the Seine.
In June 2025, the French government announced a 52 million euro contribution to the project 27 million in equity capital from the BPI and 25 million in subsidies. This intervention was conditional on raising 160 million euros from banks.
This could generate up to 200 direct jobs.
